3 Aetna Officers Suspended Because Of Conduct At Party

July 01, 1994|By From staff reports

Aetna Life & Casualty Co. this week suspended three officers because of inappropriate behavior, with sexual overtones, at a June 9 staff party in Farmington.

A female officer was thrown into a pool and pulled off the trunks of a male officer, throwing them out of reach, say employees who asked not to be named for fear of hurting their careers. The man still had shorts on, and there were no incidents of nudity.

The woman later ``made out'' with several employees at the party, employees said. She was suspended for a month, and the man who lost his trunks was suspended for a week.

Another male officer was suspended for a month for allowing the behavior to occur, employees say.

The party was an annual event for the information technology area of Aetna's investments and financial services division. Employees paid for the food and beer, and the company publicized the picnic and allowed employees to leave work early to attend.

Aetna spokesman Mike Bazinet said the suspensions resulted from an internal investigation of ``inappropriate behavior,'' which the company did not consider sexual harassment. He declined to give details.

The incident follows a September 1992 case in which two high-ranking Aetna officers in the real estate investment area resigned and two other officers were suspended and demoted after allegations of sexual harassment at a golf outing.

Behavior there included men throwing and displaying a dildo, and making sexual slurs in the presence of women.